PHILADELPHIA - The only thing reliable about this Celtics team is its unreliability. This was a Game 6 close-out road game following a home victory in Game 5. The Big Four core group is now 2-5 in such games. They shoulda won Game 2. They shoulda won Game 4. And after playing a truly abysmal game here in Wednesday night’s Game 6, they are in a position where they had damn well better win Game 7 Saturday if they wish to avoid feeling miserable for the rest of their lives over a colossal lost opportunity to get to the NBA Finals. Continue reading below So the consequence of Wednesday night’s 82-75 Philadelphia 76ers triumph over the Celtics is that there will be a 22d Game ... Continue reading →

The Celtics have been doing business like this for 55 years. In a 2-2-1-1-1- series, they take ownership of Game 5. Game 5 is a mini-7. Teams that win Game 5 in a 2-2-1-1-1 series go on to win the series 83 percent of the time. A very disproportionate percentage of that 83 belongs to the Boston Celtics. Game 5 is damn near as important as any Game 7. Ask Larry Bird, who used to conduct annual seminars on the subject. Monday night’s outcome was the one any serious student of both Celtics and NBA history would have expected. Final score: Boston 101, Philadelphia 85. But this was no wire-to-wire butt-kicking. No, no, no. Continue reading below This was a weird one. With 3:49 remaining ... Continue reading →

As you watch the Celtics submit their own peculiar brand of Jekyll-Hyde basketball, please keep in mind one thing. This is Year 5 of a three-year plan. By rights, the Celtics easily could have been the Pistons already. But they could find themselves in the Finals. If you ask me, they’ve been playing with house money for two years. They’re already handling what could be considered their declining years better than the original Big Three did. Continue reading below The overall circumstances of the respective Big Threes are different, beginning with the fact that Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish were a unit for 12 seasons, the firm’s assembly taking place on draft day in 1980 when Red Auerbach secured future Hall of Famers ... Continue reading →

When you play for the Boston Celtics , anything positive you do always bumps into history. Whatever you’ve just done, somebody is around to tell you that somebody else did it better in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, or even four years ago. For more from BostonGlobe.com, sign up or log in below To continue, please sign up or log in to BostonGlobe.com Access the full articles and quality reporting of The Boston Globe at BostonGlobe.com Sign up Unlimited Access to BostonGlobe.com for 4 weeks for only 99¢. Are you a Boston Globe home delivery subscriber? Get FREE access as part of your print subscription. BostonGlobe.com subscriber Continue reading →

ATLANTA - NBA history so often centers around the Boston Celtics, and that includes playoff suspensions. For more from BostonGlobe.com, sign up or log in below To continue, please sign up or log in to BostonGlobe.com Access the full articles and quality reporting of The Boston Globe at BostonGlobe.com Sign up Unlimited Access to BostonGlobe.com for 4 weeks for only 99¢. Are you a Boston Globe home delivery subscriber? Get FREE access as part of your print subscription. BostonGlobe.com subscriber Continue reading →

ATLANTA - Was he serious? For more from BostonGlobe.com, sign up or log in below To continue, please sign up or log in to BostonGlobe.com Access the full articles and quality reporting of The Boston Globe at BostonGlobe.com Sign up Unlimited Access to BostonGlobe.com for 4 weeks for only 99¢. Are you a Boston Globe home delivery subscriber? Get FREE access as part of your print subscription. BostonGlobe.com subscriber Continue reading →

ATLANTA - It’s Year 5 of the three-year plan, and even its architect is not sure what to make of what’s going on. For more from BostonGlobe.com, sign up or log in below To continue, please sign up or log in to BostonGlobe.com Access the full articles and quality reporting of The Boston Globe at BostonGlobe.com Sign up Unlimited Access to BostonGlobe.com for 4 weeks for only 99¢. Are you a Boston Globe home delivery subscriber? Get FREE access as part of your print subscription. BostonGlobe.com subscriber Continue reading →

There were seven All-Star-level NBA players on the Celtics and Heat in the building atop North Station last night, not counting Juwan Howard, whose expiration date has passed. Guess how many of them actually suited up for the game? One. For more from BostonGlobe.com, sign up or log in below To continue, please sign up or log in to BostonGlobe.com Access the full articles and quality reporting of The Boston Globe at BostonGlobe.com Sign up Unlimited Access to BostonGlobe.com for 4 weeks for only 99¢. Are you a Boston Globe home delivery subscriber? Get FREE access as part of your print subscription. BostonGlobe.com subscriber Continue reading →

April 20, 1912: Boston 7, New York 6 (11 innings). For more from BostonGlobe.com, sign up or log in below To continue, please sign up or log in to BostonGlobe.com Access the full articles and quality reporting of The Boston Globe at BostonGlobe.com Sign up Unlimited Access to BostonGlobe.com for 4 weeks for only 99¢. Are you a Boston Globe home delivery subscriber? Get FREE access as part of your print subscription. BostonGlobe.com subscriber Continue reading →

Emptying Out the Desk Drawer of the Sports Mind: For more from BostonGlobe.com, sign up or log in below To continue, please sign up or log in to BostonGlobe.com Access the full articles and quality reporting of The Boston Globe at BostonGlobe.com Sign up Unlimited Access to BostonGlobe.com for 4 weeks for only 99¢. Are you a Boston Globe home delivery subscriber? Get FREE access as part of your print subscription. BostonGlobe.com subscriber Continue reading →